Granbelm Episode 2 Review: Why I'm Here

Episode 2 everyone. There’s girls and they’re magical and they have giant robots. Let’s do this.

Plot

Oh, it’s summer. I miss summers, summers so hot that one can hardly breathe. Mangetsu wakes up in her bed in her birthday suit – she looks upset. I mean I would be upset too – sleeping naked with a duvet in the summer is very sweaty business. Keep your butts covered; wear pyjamas.

Shingetsu, the passive-aggressive girl from the previous episode, shows up on the door. Whose house is this? To nobody’s surprise, Mangetsu doesn’t seem all that surprised or distressed that she found herself in a stranger’s bed. It takes her literally 15 seconds to get over it. Her actual concern really is how she is going to explain this to her sister and mother who have already called the police.

After using Shingetsu as an excuse for disappearing, Mangetsu goes through that whole ‘why am I special?’ anime trope. Shingetsu scans her brain or something and explains to her that normally mages are a family thing therefore a hereditary tradition, and those who find themselves in the Granbelm tournament are very intentionally being there. Mangetsu then hands her over some sort of crystal that looks like the green gem from the Sims. Shingetsu decides that the girl is too clueless to walk around with this type of information available to her – or at least that’s how I’m interpreting the fact that she’s trying to erase Mangetsu’s memories. Mangetsu is not impressed. Of course, to complete the procedure, Shingetsu need to fight Mangetsu and end up on top of her. At least we have been spared the panty shot. The spell fails.

Somewhere else, a token white-haired character is watching them argue by the bridge. Shingetsu is spilling the same tea all over again. You gotta be part of some sort of a magic family, and there’s a tournament, we get it. Stop going back and forth. Shingetsu also makes sure to explain that Mangetsu does not need to participate in a fight to the death if she doesn’t want to. But Mangetsu does. It’s like these kids have nothing better to do with their lives other than risk them for stupid tournaments. Shingetsu goes as far as to ask her for her Sims amulet that allows her to join in the fight. But Mangetsu is… well, she’s the main character of an anime, what would you expect her to do? Give it back and go home (now here’s an anime I would watch the shit out of)? She takes the amulet home and decides to keep it for another month.

The annoying redhead from Episode ` is having a moment of her own with one of her loser goons that had their necklace broken or something and we get the valuable information that she enjoys cold rose tea. Then we get to a scene where a bunch of girls are walking to school (yes, just girls). Shingetsu wears her hair under her backpack, and that makes me think that the character designer has probably never seen a real woman in the flesh, until thankfully some other girls comment on it. She soon enters Mangetsu’s class as the token mysterious transfer student, hair under backpack and all. I mean, you can’t really be a supernatural hero magical girl that controls massive robots unless you attend high school. It’s common knowledge. The two of them are having lunch and we get to see what Mangetsu is actually cooking for her friends – it’s white tin-loaf sandwiches, oh god. However, I do need to take a moment here to appreciate how incredibly cute all the characters are. I mean, that’s their main purpose, I am sure, but a lot of good work has been put into making them look and feel so. Despite my usual objections to the way the characters are handled, the character design and interpretation is adorable. Also, their hair accessories are nice.

There’s a lot more redundant school trivia going on in the meantime. Mangetsu goes on a steak of explaining why she’s ridiculously nice to everyone, and how she basically has zero confidence, which is why she seems keen on risking her life driving a robot and trying to kill other young women. There’s such a problematic train of thought going on here but I won’t touch it cause I just don’t want to. Shingetsu tries to discourage her but that only makes her go nuts and cause a lot of flowers to bloom prematurely. Just about when it seemed like them two were having a moment, annoying redhead shows up to give her two cents.

That’s what happens when you’re a bad aesthy

I don’t have very strong feelings about this show. It’s pretty canon eye candy and nothing that happens in there really interests me, if I have to be perfectly honest. But I don’t suffer watching it, probably because it looks so good and there’s an overall relaxing cuteness about it. So I don’t hate it. And I think the reason why is because, if anything, it’s not pretending to be anything it’s not.

Let us know what you thought of Episode 2 and don’t forget to check out our other Summer 2019 reviews!! Bookmark our previews tag to be the first to see the screenshots and read a summary of the next episode!